Social Networks of the Past

DESCRIPTION:

Population sources allow the study of the demographic behaviour as well as the understanding of the social and economic evolution of the past. The aim of this project is to develop technologies to create historical social networks thanks to the linkage of citizens registered in local census with other kind of demographic sources from neighbouring municipalities.

By using computer vision as enabling technology, first we will include methods to automatically incorporate contextual and semantic information to the original population sources. Second, we will use record linkage techniques to link different sources in order to construct historical social networks. Finally, we will actively incorporate the participation of the citizens and the archivists, both in the extraction of demographic information through gamification, and in the design of new user experiences (e.g. geoprojections in interactive maps). Thus, we aim to facilitate the consumption and dissemination of the historical knowledge in an illustrative and pedagogic way.

As a result, the historical demographic heritage will be converted in digital assets, facilitating the rein-terpretation of the past from an individual perspective. A better understanding of our past will foster the present and future innovation.